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Content archived on 2023-01-04

Aerosol tracer technique for long range applications

Objective

It is intended to develop an aerosol tracer technique in view of studying the deposition interaction between aerosols, gases and clouds during transport over 1000 km.
Inert perfluorocarbon tracers are being used for studying the transport of air masses up to 1000 to 2000 km. Such tracers do not deposit or react in the atmosphere. The simultaneous release of an inert tracer with a tracer that does deposit or react, and the measurement of the ratio between the 2 tracers can give information about the deposition process or the reactivity of the atmosphere along the tracer trajectory. This theory has been applied to short range transport problems. Its application on the long range requires the identification of an appropriate tracer.

The current plan is to simulate the ambient aerosol by nebulizing a salt solution (preferably a solution of ammonium sulphate which is a major component of atmospheric aerosols) containing a small amount of a tracer substance, thus producing tagged particles in the submicron size range.

The screening of a number of substances that could be used as a tracer has been started. The most promising idea is the use of luminol or another chemiluminescent substance as a tracer. Luminol has successfully been used for the detection of hydrogen peroxide in cloud, fog and rainwater samples. It emits light on oxidization in alkaline solution, which can be detected to a high level of sensitivity. A 70 m{3} environmental room was prepared, in which the aerosol can be generated and kept for several days, in order to perform the necessary tests.
Inert perfluorocarbon tracers are presently being used by the Atmospheric Physics Unit for studying transport of air masses up to 1000 - 2000 km. Such tracers do not deposit or do not react in the atmosphere. The simultaneous release of an inert tracer with a tracer that does deposit or reacts, and the measurement of the ratio between the two tracers can give information about the deposition process or the reactivity of the atmosphere along the tracer trajectory. This idea has been applied in short range transport problems. Its application on the long range requires the identification of an appropriate tracer.

One way of producing an aerosol tracer is to tag the ambient aerosol itself, eg by condensing some tracer material onto the particles. This however would mean processing millions of cubic meters of ambient air (containing the particles), because the ambient aerosol is so dilute and the tracer should not change the properties of the aerosol. The current idea, therefore, is to simulate the ambient aerosol by nebulizing a salt solution, preferably a solution of ammonium sulfate, which is a major component of atmospheric aerosols containing a small amount of a tracer substance, thus producing tagged particles in the submicron size range.

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Coordinator

Joint Research Centre (JRC)
EU contribution
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Address
Edificio 29
21020 Ispra
Italy

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